9mm Ammo for Groundhogs
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JerryK
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I don't have a garden anymore, but when I lived downstate.... A Marlin [ bull barrel, but you don't need it ] 22 single shot/semi-decent scope and subsonic 40gr. 22 hollow points did it for me. Not very loud, and does the job. Sounds like a loud air rifle. Just about anything you shoot is going to probably have at least a 50/50 chance of skiping back up into the air. One thing about a 22LR, you actually have to learn how to shoot to be able to hit something consistantly and kill it with a head shot. Not hit somewhere close, automatically skin/gut/debone it, and slice it into edible bites like a varmit rifle. I have a 9mm Glock, and shoot it quite a bit on a pistol range I built back out in the woods. Not the worst shot, but would not like to try and hit something like a groundhog at 50 yards consistantly. Some days I can't ring my 12" 50 yard gong no matter how much I cuss and swear..... 
MH8675309
Platinum Member
It can be done with a pistol. I shot one looking at me out of its hole with my S&W 640 .357 mag (2" barrel) but, thats the exception and not the rule. I'd say go with a .22 or even a .22 mag - much else is overkill. When you finally kill one be sure to skin it out and run the meat through a grinder so you can have ground chuck. No seriously - its better than the meat at walmarts. Just my 2 cents
Beltzington
Platinum Member
Live and let live.
Barring that, Hornady Critical Defense FTX designed to penetrate thick fur or leather jackets and not exit
Quiet: Suppress it, current waiting time is about 12 months for the tax stamp.
Barring that, Hornady Critical Defense FTX designed to penetrate thick fur or leather jackets and not exit
Quiet: Suppress it, current waiting time is about 12 months for the tax stamp.
MossRoad
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I'm just impressed that you can sneak up on them close enough to get a shot off with a handgun. After a couple BB gun pops in the butt by me, they flee at the sound of the back door opening! :laughing:
Buggs67
Veteran Member
I have no experience with groundhogs, but when I used to shoot rabid raccoons with my 9mm with police ammo a head shot was impossible and it took more than 1 body shot to do it. I started using 00 buck. One shot one kill. But I wasn't concerned with noise and I could get close. Rabid raccoons don't shy away from humans.
My buddy hunts ground hogs with his bolt action .223. That or a .22lr would be my choice.
My buddy hunts ground hogs with his bolt action .223. That or a .22lr would be my choice.
MossRoad
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Regarding 9mm, last summer I was in my house and heard a loud BANG! Went to the window to see a neighbor two houses over pop up from a different neighbor's deck like a sniper and fire several more shots from what appeared to be a carbine rifle. This was a residential area. I knew he was going after a groundhog. Then he came off the deck, disappeared into his overgrown jungle of a garden and I heard a few more shots.
Talking with my immediate next door neighbor, the guy was using a camp 9 and took over 5 shots to put the groundhog down. That probably isn't the 9mm round's fault; the guy is an idiot.
A couple weeks ago I hear shots and look out the window to see a different squirrely neighbor shooting a possum at point blank range... again and again and again, and the poor thing got up and walked away. Again, talking to my next door neighbor, she was using a 9mm, and ran out of ammo. He had to put it down with a .22. And, again, it wasn't the 9mm's fault. It was the nutjob neighbor.
However, it brings up the question of humanely killing a groundhog. 9mm shot from a pistol at 50 yards, for most folks, isn't going to put it down immediately. So if you do that, please run up there and put the poor thing out of its misery ASAP.
Talking with my immediate next door neighbor, the guy was using a camp 9 and took over 5 shots to put the groundhog down. That probably isn't the 9mm round's fault; the guy is an idiot.
A couple weeks ago I hear shots and look out the window to see a different squirrely neighbor shooting a possum at point blank range... again and again and again, and the poor thing got up and walked away. Again, talking to my next door neighbor, she was using a 9mm, and ran out of ammo. He had to put it down with a .22. And, again, it wasn't the 9mm's fault. It was the nutjob neighbor.
However, it brings up the question of humanely killing a groundhog. 9mm shot from a pistol at 50 yards, for most folks, isn't going to put it down immediately. So if you do that, please run up there and put the poor thing out of its misery ASAP.
I am of the philosophy of living together with natural peacefully. That being said we gave the hogs plenty of opportunities by using nonlethal means to stop digging holes in our yard, around the shed, pond, etc, and find a new place to live in the woods. That was in 2012.
The hogs just got mad and would charge us! I have a 2 small children and I cannot have animals doing that. That is when lethal means were used. Got 10 of them in 2013, 4 of them last year. Will see how many show up this year.
I only shoot the ones that are close to the house, so the shot is never over say 20 yards. I guess at that range any 9mm will probably exit.
The hogs just got mad and would charge us! I have a 2 small children and I cannot have animals doing that. That is when lethal means were used. Got 10 of them in 2013, 4 of them last year. Will see how many show up this year.
I only shoot the ones that are close to the house, so the shot is never over say 20 yards. I guess at that range any 9mm will probably exit.
k0ua
Epic Contributor
I would imagine that some of the horror stories of multiple 9mm hits on the 'whistle pigs" and poor results might be due to using Full Metal Jacketed ammunition. Which of course would be the most likely kind of ammunition a person would likely to have handy. It is the cheapest ammunition and of course has the absolute worst stopping power on any varmit, 4 legged or 2.
Norm W
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After breaking the front end off a JD MT, we declared war on Charles Rodent. CCI stingers were good out to about 130 yards. One shot, dead rodent, slide him back into the hole, fill it in and level the ground around it. A good zero at 25 yards and practiced hold over past 75 yards worked well. Much cheaper to practice with a 22.
